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My husband and I get all of our best life ideas sitting in the hot-tub. We dub them our hot-tub talks and that fact that we live part-time in Germany each year is a result of one of those talks.
It’s also where we came up with the idea for The Minstrel Series. I’m a writer and my husband is a musician. We’re both artists but rarely did our art ever interconnect. Now, with the digital era, a new possibly to do something together existed.
So, we discussed what it could look like to work on a project together. Having been married to a singer-songwriter for almost 27 years, I felt comfortable writing a fictional tale that takes place in that world. I’ve witnessed the song writing process, heard endless hours of rehearsals, live with a recording studio in both of my homes, have been to many, many concerts, sat through hours and hours of sound checks, waited in greenrooms, set up equipment, tore down equipment, toured Europe (there were times when I sang in the band). Know what it’s like to sleep in a different bed every night and meet new people every day.
I was there over the years for countless large venue crowds and smaller house concert crowds, the indoor concerts and the outdoor festivals. Many of my friends are singer-songwriters who work hard to make music their a career. Some find more success than others.
Plus, my son is a singer-songwriter and I always loved a song he’d written called Sun & Moon – “the difference between you and I, is like the sun and the moon…” (PS: I know it’s not grammatically correct, but it’s the lyric and it flows better than the difference than you and me.)
It was the seed to a love story, two people opposite in almost every way, one being the misunderstood artist who follows a dream.
Not only could I write about songwriters, but I could use actual song lyrics (as opposed to making them up myself or risking copyright infringement by using songs owned by a label.) And I could hire my talented friends to sing them. With e-readers it’s easy to include links to the mp3s, and with enhance books it’s possible to include a link right in the text of the book so that the reader can listen to the character sing as they read the story.
The idea was very exciting. And daunting. But I was up for it and started writing Sun & Moon last May. As I mentioned, I live in Dresden Germany for half of the year, which happens to be a very artistic and inspiring place, a perfect setting to begin the series. It takes place in the very neighborhood that I live in, along Alaunstrasse in the Neustadt area of Dresden (if you want to look it up.)
The regular e-edition has links to all the songs – the remake versions for the book, and the original versions by the songwriters – plus a link to the music video of the title song. The print book has QR codes to scan with a smart phone that will open the links. An enhanced book is in the works and eventually it will be available in audio.
Book 2, Flesh & Bone is scheduled for a spring/summer release.
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(Book One in the Minstrel Series)
Publication Date: January 26th
If you’re a fan of the movie Inside, Llewyn Davis, ABC television’s Nashville or Colleen Hoover’s upcoming novel, "Maybe Someday", the Minstrel Series is for you!
The Minstrel Series is a collection of contemporary romance novels set in the singer/songwriter world. The books are companion novels, with shared settings and characters, but each are complete standalone stories with a HEA (happily ever after) and no cliffhangers!
Katja Stoltz is a risk-taking singer-songwriter hoping to make it in the indie music scene in Dresden, Germany. Micah Sturm's a brooding uptown banker on a quest.
Driven to the streets, Katja is picked up by Micah - but he doesn't want what she thinks he does. There’s an undeniable attraction between them, a gravitational pull they both struggle to resist. Katja knows she mustn’t fall in love with this handsome enigma. There’s something dark lurking beneath the surface. He could be dangerous.
And even if her life isn’t on the line, her heart most definitely is.
*not erotica - no explicit sex or coarse language
This series is an exciting collaboration between Lee Strauss as an Indie Author and several very talented Indie Singer-Songwriters. Four original songs produced by Norm Strauss are featured in Sun & Moon and are performed by award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter Kim McMechan. MP3 links are included at the end.
Check out the music video!
All the songs from the Minstrel Series can be found at Bandcamp.
The Minstrel Series also has its own Facebook page. Go Like it to follow all the upcoming Minstrel Series news!
Pre- orders now available at the pre-release price of 2.99! (Price goes up after launch)
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Meet The Author:
Lee Strauss writes romantic mixed genres set in the past, present and future for YA and adult readers. She also writes light and fun stuff as Elle Strauss. She divides her time between BC, Canada and Dresden, Germany, and enjoys drinking coffee and eating chocolate in both places. Find out more at www.ellestraussbooks.com.
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Giveaway:
Lee is giving away prizes to celebrate the upcoming launch of Sun & Moon.
Enter to win a $50 Amazon gift card, MP3s of all four songs featured on Sun & Moon, and a 12 month calendar from Dresden, Germany featuring many of the settings found in Sun & Moon.
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Dresden, Germany |